


then, then, and now

by Annwyd



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 14:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1554161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annwyd/pseuds/Annwyd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha wonders about the length and breadth of years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	then, then, and now

She looks at him sometimes--well, naturally, she looks at him a lot now that they're back in each other's lives, but sometimes she looks at him when she knows he's tired or too busy to glance back and smile at her, and she wonders.

How long has it been for him, since they were pulled apart? His files suggest no more than six or seven years. And she has to remind herself that to him that's a real fraction of the life he's known.

For her, half a century passed, almost. She held the memory of him close for that long. She hid it with all the rest of the things she never expected to see again, inside the fractured maze of her heart. Just one memory of a man who showed her warmth and kindness, nothing but a token to keep her from freezing over the years.

He doesn't know the way the years stretch out and the people she once loved become ghosts as substantial as a candle flame. Sometimes she sees a hint of it in him when he glances over newspaper headlines, when his eyes linger on dates, but it's not the same as living through those years.

She looks too long this time, thinking too gratefully of a warm ghost who unexpectedly became warmer flesh and blood once again, and he shifts slightly, his breathing changes, and she knows he's realized she's watching. For once, she doesn't have to fight the urge to throw up a mask as soon as someone turns to look at her; she keeps smiling at him.

Sure enough, he looks up from where he's sitting. "What are you thinking about, Natasha?" He speaks lightly, but there's an understanding there: she doesn't have to answer with the truth. They'll figure it out in time, anyway.

But she does. Putting her arms over his shoulders, she just says, "Cradle-robbing. I'm thinking about how I'm robbing the cradle."


End file.
